Arlington: Images of US chess grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura throwing D Gukesh’s ‘King’ into the crowd after winning an exhibition game against the world champion have now gone viral on social media.

While many, including former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, have criticised Nakamura, others said that teams were encouraged to engage in such ‘theatrics’ to hype the crowd in the Checkmate: USA vs India exhibition contest that took place at Arlington in Texas, USA. ADVERTISEMENT

World No 2 and US champion Nakamura had led Team USA to a dominant 5-0 sweep over the Indian side. After his own win against Gukesh, the US player picked up his opponent’s ‘King’ from the board and threw it into the crowd.

“I don’t know who came up with this childish, tasteless act. Likely this ‘thinker’ had no spe

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